This blog set all kinds of personal records in January.
I’d attribute a large part of that to my New Year’s resolution. I said I wanted to blog more often and become a better blogger. I think January shows that there is a strong corollary between frequency of posts and traffic.
Also, by being a better blogger — largely by posting more on other blogs and being more active in the journalism blogging community — I have helped create more awareness about my blog. Never, ever underestimate how much being a good blogosphere participant will help generate traffic for your own blog.
The more you think of others, the more they will think of you. This is something that most newspaper bloggers haven’t grasped, because newspaper have long operated within a vacuum. Bloggers need to actively seek out fellow bloggers and new users.
We cannot just wait for people to come to us, and blogging has been a great education in this principle for me. In fact, my experience as a blogger has taught me so much about the Web, what people want and community building. I think journalism would benefit greatly if more journalists became bloggers, if only for the educational aspects of blogging.
Blogging will teach you the Web in ways that people and classes cannot. I’ve used the Web since I was a kid. I know Web development and multimedia reporting.
But blogging has taught me lessons about building communities that I never considered before. Blogging has really shown me the power of the Web, because an independent blog can only become successful if it truly harnesses the power of the Web and connects with users through a myriad of outlets. If you want to get the power of the Web, you need a blog — an independent blog.
Newspapers need to stop discouraging employees from blogging, because newspapers need more employees to get the Web. Newspaper should be thrilled that their employees are giving themselves free training off the clock. Personal blogging will greatly benefit newspapers.
Editors and publishers need to get this ASAP. But back on topic. Here are some of the posts that helped make January the best month yet for this blog: